Neil Entwistle breaks down during crime scene video

June 12, 2008 12:32 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Franci R. Ellement, Globe Correspondent, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

WOBURN -- Neil Entwistle's face turned scarlet red and he covered his mouth with his hand, looking down to avert his eyes from the video played today in court that showed the bodies of his wife and infant daughter, found shot to death in bed and frozen in an embrace.

Entwistle trembled and for the first time since his 2006 arrest began to cry publicly, tears running down the cheeks of his quivering jaw. As the 20-minute video played for the Middlesex Superior Court jury, he turned his eyes back at the screen and watched, his hand covering his gaping mouth.

The prosecution played the video taken by State Police investigators as part of the case against Entwistle, who is accused of killing his wife, Rachel, and 9-month-old daughter, Lillian, in Hopkinton on Jan. 20, 2006, then fleeing to his native England. Rachel Entwistle's family and spectators crowding the courtroom could not see the video screen, but it appeared to have a profound impact on the defendant and his family, who were seated on the opposite side of the room.

During the first five days of the trial, Neil Entwistle showed little emotion, smiling occasionally at his parents and younger brother, and bowing his head once during testimony about Lillian. During the video this morning, however, he sniffled and cried, averting his eyes to regain his composure and then looking back at the screen. The classical music the couple used to help Lillian sleep could be heard in the background, wafting from her nursery where it had been left playing.

Mother and daughter were found dead in bed two days after they were killed, tucked beneath a fluffy white comforter in the master bedroom, according to police testimony. Rachel Entwistle was wearing pajamas, lying on her left side, her feet curled up toward her body. Her right arm was across Lillian's chest and she faced her baby, who was flat on her back. Lillian's face had been covered by a pillow and her sleeper sack had been burned slightly by the gunshot in her upper left chest. Blood stained her onesie.

Yvonne Entwistle sat behind her son this morning and could not bear to watch the video, burying her head in her husband's shoulder.